The 60-minute annual campaign organised by conservation group WWF encourages citizens, communities, businesses and organisations to switch the lights off for an hour from 8:30pm to highlight the plight of planet Earth. Now in its ninth year, Earth Hour’s goal is not to achieve measurable electricity savings, but to raise awareness of the need for sustainable energy use, and this year also to demand action to halt planet-harming climate change. ‘Over 170 countries and territories have already confirmed their participation; more than 1200 landmarks and close to 40 UNESCO world heritage sites,’ Earth Hour head Sudhanshu Sarronwala told AFP. These range from the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, the Acropolis in Athens, Edinburgh Castle, Big Ben, Ecuador’s Quito historical centre and New York’s Times Square. Earth Hour 2015 takes place just months before UN member states are meant to sign an ambitious pact in Paris in December to limit galloping global warming, and just days before a loose end-March deadline for ‘those parties ready to do so’ to submit their carbon-curbing pledges. From a small, symbolic event held in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has grown to a global campaigning event with a festive twist. This year will include a glow-in-the-dark Zumba party in the Philippines, a co-ordinated candlelit dinner in Finland billed as the world’s largest, restaurant dinners by candlelight in London, and a power-generating dance floor to light up the Eiffel Tower after its hour-long sleep, said WWF. The organisers published a list of ideas for individual participants, which included barbecuing instead of stove cooking, a candle-lit street party or a picnic under the stars. An estimated nine million people in 162 countries took part in Earth Hour last year, according to the WWF, of whom 85 per cent ‘said that they felt inspired to do more to protect the planet, such as making small changes to live more sustainably and reduce their impact on the environment.’

MANY THANKS to everyone who emailed, tweeted and rang their MPs at such short notice. The Order was about to be passed through as “delegated legislation” this means that there is a presumption to pass the Order uncontested in a back room by Parliamentary Committee. The lobbying action by Radiation Free Lakeland and No Nuke Dumping has helped ensure that “a select group of independently minded Lib Dem and Labour MPs have objected” to the Order to class a Geological Disposal Facility as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project. As some MPs said “nay” (remember this is almost unprecedented) a VOTE HAS BEEN TRIGGERED IN THE COMMONS NEXT WEDNESDAY 25th MARCH 2015.

MANY THANKS TO THOSE MPS WHO STOOD UP AND SAID “NAY”

Now we have just a week to warn our locally elected Councillors that their Democratic Planning Authority regarding the dumping of radioactive waste is about to be stolen away with no fanfare or fuss. Please lobby MPs, NGOs, Conservation Groups, The Press and anyone else you can think of. Write letters to the press – do something!

This is deliberately shifting sand that even the lawyers are unsure of. But what we do know is that government is trying to quietly push law that will ensure the hard won local planning protections (Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Conservation Areas etc) and our democratic mandate cannot be used to reject geological dumping of nuclear wastes. At the same time the government is claiming that the “implementation of geological disposal” will be participatory with a “test of public support.” We have already had some experience of how government has manipulated data to pretend support for geological dumpingand expect this “test” will be more of the same.

We know that all the “Radioactive Waste Management” roads lead to new-build justification and the production of more wastes.

This is what the local government lawyers Bircham Dyson Bell say about the plan:

“Of course this isn’t a random extension to the regime, the government has in mind the creation of one such facility, likely to be in Cumbria. It tried before but in January 2013 the project was vetoed by Cumbria County Council. It’s trying again and for obvious reasons has removed the ability for a county council to veto the process, and the process is also much more measured and supported with technical information.

Even if there is only one site that gets to the stage of a borehole, there should be at least two NSIPs – one for the borehole (and possibly more) and then one for the facility itself.

The community-led program will be held from 9:30 a.m. to noon March 29 at Vancouver’s Marshall Community Center, 1009 E. McLoughlin Blvd. It is free and open to the public.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Eastern Washington was conceived as part of the Manhattan project in World War II and produced material for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The government subsequently used the remote desert site to produce material for the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Today, the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site is subject to a decades-long cleanup under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy.

“The health of the Columbia River depends on successful cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site and its dangerous nuclear and chemical pollution. Residents throughout the Pacific Northwest have a huge stake in the cleanup effort at Hanford, and we are reaching out to help give them a greater voice in the process,” said Dan Serres, Conservation Director for Columbia Riverkeeper.

The event is organized by Columbia Riverkeeper, Hanford Challenge, Heart of America and Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility. It is billed as an opportunity to provide input on the Hanford cleanup and for downstream communities to learn more about the issues.

Act on Climate March http://act-on-climate.ca/media/ Quebec, March 19, 2015 – Prominent Canadian actors, musicians, and authors including Indigenous rights advocate and actress Tantoo Cardinal, Juno award winning artists Claire Boucher (Grimes) and Sarah Harmer, and best selling journalist and author Naomi Klein are urging people across Canada to come to Quebec City to march for the climate on April 11.

“I’m booking a train ticket to Quebec City for April 11th to Act on Climate! This is one of those vital times where we need to lead our leaders,” said Juno-nominated musician Sarah Harmer. “Join the thousands who will be there to push our provincial leaders to act now to develop a low carbon economy in Canada.”

People across Canada are invited to push for federal and provincial action to combat a growing climate crisis and transition the country to renewable energy.

“We need to leave the oil in the ground and move to wind and solar,” said actress and Order of Canada recipient Tantoo Cardinal. “It’s time our Prime Minister and our premiers went beyond fear, greed and control and use this opportunity to weave a new paradigm. Your grandchildren will thank you.”

The mobilization on April 11th is scheduled three days before provincial and territorial leaders are to meet in Quebec City for a special Council of Federation meeting to talk about the climate change. Organizers expect thousands of people from all over Canada to take part in the demonstration. “I am supporting this march because it’s time for governments to tell us that they recognize the new economic reality – the changing world attitudes to oil and its volatility, the world-wide increase in renewables, the fact that, despite lack of subsidies, there are more Canadian jobs now in renewables than in oil,” said Booker prize winning author Margaret Atwood.

“The only thing standing between this world and environmental catastrophe is us,” said Claire Boucher (Grimes). “On April 11th, we our elected leaders must turn away from the tarsands and act on climate.”

“There has never been a better time to transform not just how we generate power but who benefits from that power,” said author and journalist Naomi Klein. “With prices plummeting, the oil and gas industry is in crisis, and they are demanding a fresh wave of government handouts and subsidizes. That’s insane. Public money does need to be spent, but it needs to go towards building a clean and just economy — before climate change overtakes us.”

In West Cumbria we already host Sellafield, one of the most hazardous sites in the world. It is now proposed that three new nuclear power plants are to be built next door at Moorside and the threat of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) being imposed on us still remains.

On Wednesday 11 March at 7.30 Arnie Gunderson and Ian Fairlie, two
internationally respected authorities on the nuclear industry, will be
speaking at the Skiddaw Hotel about the Moorside project and the Waste
Isolation Pilot Project near Carlsbad in New Mexico, which is very relevant
to Cumbrians as it is the only GDF currently in operation anywhere in the
world. It has had its problems with canisters containing waste exploding and
roofs collapsing.

Whether you agree with these possible developments or not, this should be an
interesting evening and certainly you can guarantee that more detailed
information will be available than would be published by the Nuclear
industry itself through its mouth piece the “Britain’s Energy Coast”
publication.

Japanese photographer shows alternative view on Fukushima disaster, Kyiv Post March 7, 2015, | Museums — by Victoria Petrenko Kazuma Obara, a Japanese photo artist, had his exhibition on Fukushima disaster opened at the Kyiv History Museum on March 4. Obara, 30, reveals the real stories of the liquidators of the nuclear power plant accident, while also plans to launch a special photo project on Chornobyl……“I was very shocked when I met the workers of Fukushima nuclear power plant for the first time and heard their stories,” he says…….

Say no to nuclear waste http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/mar/05/say-no-to-nuclear-waste/Gail SpauldingGov. Butch Otter and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden in January agreed to welcome huge quantities of dangerous nuclear waste into from other locations, to be received in June 2015 and again in January 2016. In doing so, they threw Idaho and its human residents, visitors, animals, birds, fish, land, forests, rivers, creeks, ponds, campgrounds, farms, crops, real estate, cattle and aquifer into eons of radioactive ravaging.

Please express your awareness and opposition to such a vastly contaminating, damaging and unhealthy plan by emailing Otter right away (online search takes you to his website and email link), and learn more and how to protect Idaho from becoming a nuclear waste dump now and for thousands of future years by connecting with the Snake River Alliance atwww.snakeriveralliance.org, or call them at (208) 344-9161.

There is hope for stopping the receipt of harmful nuclear waste if we act together now so that Idaho can be a safe, healthy, enjoyable, prosperous and refreshing place for life to thrive. And Psalm 46:1 offers the encouragement that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

It’s been 4 years, and clean-up of the Fukushima nuclear disaster continues with the long term damage still unclear.

The Abe government and the power utilities monopoly want to restart the nuclear reactors. This is despite broad public opposition in Japan. Greenpeace along with local groups have been successful in keeping Japan’s nuclear reactors offline for the last 18 months.

With your help, we can keep it that way.

Together we can create a safer and sustainable future for the people of Japan and the world.

Anti-nuclear protest march scheduled for March 14 Central News Agency By Zoe Wei and Evelyn Kao2015-03-01 Taipei, A national anti-nuclear alliance calling for energy reforms is set to hold a protest march around Taiwan on March 14 to mark the fourth anniversary of Japan‘s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Stop Nukes Now , formed by 126 anti-nuclear organizations, announced that the march will take place simultaneously in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan to convey people’s hope for the government to abolish nuclear power and reform Taiwan’s energy network.

The protest is aimed at expressing opposition to extend the life of Taiwan’s existing nuclear power plants — which are scheduled to be decommissioned between 2018 and 2025 — and call for the start of an energy revolution.

The march in Taipei will start from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office, proceed along Zhongshan South Road, Gongyuan Road, Zhongxiao West Road and Chongqing South Road before returning to the boulevard where an evening gathering will be held. Taiwan currently generates nearly 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power at three plants around Taiwan, but opposition to nuclear energy grew sharply after reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant melted down following a massive earthquake and tsunami.

That opposition was galvanized as the government prepared to put a fourth nuclear power plant in northeastern Taiwan into service, and tens of thousands of people protested against the plant in a rally organized by the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and 150 civilian groups in March 2013. A nationwide nuclear abolition march was again held on March 8, 2014. Lin Yi-hsiung (???), former chairman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, also began a hunger strike at around that time calling for the fourth nuclear power plant project to be terminated. The government was eventually forced to stop work on the plant and its two reactors, which was close to completion.

“Uranium is the raw material of a power-elite who has taken Mother Earth’s every living creature hostage.”
The Late Petra Kelly, Founder of the Green Party

We should not be building or refurbishing any more nuclear reactors for the following reasons:

Nuclear waste is the only product of all nuclear reactors.

Nuclear waste is destructive of all living things.

The Nuclear industry does not know how to undo the nuclear waste they produce.

Nuclear waste lasts virtually forever and will also require management for as long as it lasts.

Nuclear waste cannot be buried and forgotten. It will destroy any material containment. It will require perpetual management.
The Nuclear waste stored at Fukushima has gone critical and defies all efforts to contain and manage it. It continues to be released into our biosphere now and is poisoning every living thing it encounters.
Nuclear warheads are fashioned from the nuclear waste produced in nuclear reactors.
Greed for profit is the main motive that drives the nuclear industry.

Aecon Construction and SNC Lavalin, not surprisingly, are not keen to reveal just how rich this mega contract is and refused to provide the information. However, the the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) ruled that the companies should provide relevant details, a decision Aecon and SNC then appealed to the Superior Court.

The companies are insisting that they were “confused” by the Freedom of Information request process, which the Privacy Commissioner’s counsel notes is rather odd, considering that these “are multi-billion dollar companies that have access to a wealth of internal and external legal resources [and] have a history of being involved in access to information requests in other Canadian jurisdictions.“

The companies are also trying to use another technicality to shield the details of the deal, including whether it allows cost overruns to be passed onto taxpayers and ratepayers. They are insisting that contracts are not covered by FOI legislation because they represent information provided by one party to another. The Commissioner’s counsel strongly disagrees in her response, citing an explanation from the Government of Canada:

“.. . The intention of Parliament in exempting financial and commercial information from disclosure applies to confidential information submitted to the government, not negotiated amounts for goods or services. Otherwise, every contract amount with the government would be exempt from disclosure, and the public would have no access to this important information …”

Given the long history of secret deals in Ontario’s nuclear power sector that have led to massive cost overruns – and massive debt for Ontario taxpayers and ratepayers – the OCAA believes the public has every right to know more about the deal struck between OPG and these two construction and engineering giants. We would like to thank the Information and Privacy Commissioner for robustly defending our right to see this information.

We’re hoping we won’t have to repeat this difficult and time consuming exercise with another secret nuclear deal – an agreement to rebuild reactors at the Bruce Nuclear Station. Instead of forcing public interest groups to file freedom of information requests after the fact, the government should walk its talk on openness and transparency by sending any proposed Bruce Deal to the Ontario Energy Board for a full public review.

Please join us to observe the proceedings as well as to show your support for greater transparency in government decision making this coming Monday :

Green nuclear conference will ‘dismantle’ Hinkley http://mollymep.org.uk/2015/02/23/green-nuclear-conference-will-dismantle-hinkley/A major conference on nuclear power and the proposal to build a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley point in Somerset will take place in London to coincide with the 4th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster [1]. The event will be hosted by Green MEP Molly Scott Cato – whose South West constituency is home to Hinkley – and three other Green MEPs: Rebecca Harms, Claude Turmes and Michel Reimon.

The event will present the initial findings of a new report which will seek to ‘dismantle’ the view that nuclear can be part of a sustainable energy future and demonstrate how renewables can meet the energy needs of the South West. Greens argue that the proposed deal for a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset was granted by the EU Commission on dubious legal grounds, amounts to a massive government subsidy, and sets a dangerous precedent across Europe. The deal is currently facing a legal challenge from the Austrian and Luxembourg governments and a consortium of renewable energy businesses. Molly Scott Cato MEP said:

“Greens have always said that nuclear power is dangerous, expensive and will fail to deliver the energy we need in the timescale we need it. The South West has the greatest potential for renewable energy anywhere in England and Wales and the sector can provide thousands of jobs. We have the ability to provide electricity cleanly, safely and at lower costs than nuclear. Add to that the opportunity for renewables to be owned not by giant foreign corporations and global finance but by local people in the form of cooperatives and social enterprises, and it’s clear that it is renewable energy that really offers power to the people.”

The event, held on the 4th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, will include a keynote speech from Tetsunari Iida, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, Japan. Mr Iida said:

“With nuclear power, there is always the risk that a large disaster on the scale of Fukushima will occur as well as the semi-permanent nuclear waste nuclear produces. These two basic risks cannot be avoided. Our only truly sustainable type of energy is renewable energy.”

Notes

[1] FROM FUKUSHIMA TO HINKLEY: DISMANTLING THE NUCLEAR ARGUEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE

Where: Europe House, 32 Smith Street, London SW1P 3EU on Thursday 5 March 2015.Time: 09:00 – 15:30Details: The events takes place on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster and will include keynote speaker Tetsunari Iida, Executive Director, Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, Japan. The event will bring together experts from all over the world to discuss the impacts of Fukushima on Europe in light of the recent decision of the European Commission to allow the UK government to heavily subsidise a new nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point C. It will include detailed analysis of the impact of this decision on the South West, including a report on meeting the South West energy needs from renewables and how nuclear can undermine investment in renewables.

For the first time in Québec City, Canada The World Uranium Symposium http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk/news/venuesevents/25114-for-the-first-time-in-quebec-city-canada-the-world-uranium-symposium23 February 2015
The World Uranium Symposium will be held for the first time in Québec City, Canada, from April 14 to 16, 2015, at the Québec City Convention Centre. Organized by medical associations and civil society partners, the symposium will welcome more than 100 national and international specialists who will examine major questions associated with the nuclear fuel chain, including issues related to economic trends in the industry, safety and governance, social and environmental aspects, health, ethics, human rights, and indigenous peoples’ rights.

“We’re very pleased to be able to present the World Uranium Symposium in Québec this year. This is an important event and a unique opportunity for specialists and the public alike to explore the key issues pertaining to the nuclear fuel chain,” says Dr. Juan Carlos Chirgwin, Faculty lecturer at McGill University and president of Physicians for Global Survival (1985 Nobel Peace Prize).

2015: a key year for debating the future of nuclear energy
The World Uranium Symposium is taking place in a unique international context: rising costs and safety issues related to the Fukushima accidents in 2011 have led many countries to question the future of nuclear energy, which currently generates about 11% of the world’s electricity. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the United Nations’ negotiations in New York for the Non-Proliferation Treaty. A new United Nations climate agreement will also be signed in Paris this year. All of these issues form the backdrop for the Symposium, whose primary aim is to make key recommendations to public policy makers to ensure increased protection of health, safety and the environment (see Preliminary Program).

Speakers at the Symposium include Helen Mary Caldicott (Australia), cofounder of Physicians for Social Responsibility; Arnie Gundersen (USA), international nuclear safety expert, former nuclear industry senior executive and author of a bestseller about the Fukushima; Mycle Shneider (France), international expert on energy and nuclear policies, author of the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report; Sara Olsvig (Greenland), leader of the Ataqatigiit party and member of the Danish Parliament; Peter Prebble (Canada), former Saskatchewan cabinet minister; Doug Brugge (United States), Department of Public Health at Tufts University, author of The Navajo People and Uranium Mining; Ian Fairlie (Great Britain), former advisor to the UK government on the radiation risks of the nuclear industry; and Mariette Liefferink (South Africa), CEO, Federation for a Sustainable Environment.

The Symposium is jointly organized by Physicians for Global Survival (1985 Nobel Peace Prize), the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Nature Québec, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility and the Coalition pour que le Québec ait meilleure mine. It also receives support from the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Swiss chapter), the First Nations of Québec and Labrador Sustainable Development Institute, the Cree Nation of Mistissini, MiningWatch Canada, and a number of other local, national and international partners.

QUEBEC CITY, Feb. 19 2015 /CNW Telbec/- The World Uranium Symposium will be held for the first time inQuebec City, Canada, from April 14 to 16, at the Centre des congrès de Québec. Organized by medical associations and civil society partners, the symposium will welcome more than 100 national and international specialists who will examine major questions associated with the nuclear fuel chain, including issues related to economic trends in the industry, safety and governance, social and environmental aspects, health, ethics, human rights, and indigenous peoples’ rights (register online: www.uranium2015.com/en). Continue reading →

The global movement for a clean non nuclear future – theme for March 2015

The nuclear lobby, the corporate establishment, governments and the mainstream media just don’t “get it”. But the world is moving away from top-down, centrally organised, vertically structured systems. Nuclear power, even that last ditch hope, “little” nuclear reactors – all are part of the out-dated systems.

There’s still a place for some centralised systems, with renewable energy transported by the grid. But along with the now horizontally organised communications – net-working across the world, grow the flexible and versatile systems of decentralised electricity generation.

Above all – the ever more rapid spread of ideas and campaigns. Some, we know, are harmful campaigns. But the movement for clean energy is unstoppable – spreading as it does from person to person – not relying on organisation by authorities and experts.

Indigenous campaigns lead the way – whether it be in America, Australia, Malaysia – indigenous peoples have already shown how they can slow down, even stop, the nuclear juggernaut.